Engines, such as diesel engines used to power locomotives, water craft and the like are large complex machines that must be assembled with particular care to all details, major and minor. While this is true for all large diesel engines, it is particularly so for those engines as noted above, that are used to provide powered moving vehicles and craft.
Typically, the assembly of a large engine, such as that in the 2,500 to 4,500 horse-power range, requires between 7 and 12 days to assemble the engine, from the time that the frame or engine block is machined-complete, until the engine is ready for performance or power testing. While various processes and methods for assembling these engines are known, it has not heretofore been known to assemble such engines in less than about 6 to 7 days.
To this end, one area in which productivity can be increased and thus costs reduced is in the assembly of these engines. One known process for assembling engines entails moving the engines in a side-by-side fashion between workstations for the assembly of various parts to the frame. In such a process, the engine is supported by an overhead crane from which is hung by a sling or like overhead supporting device for supporting the engine frame. In such an assembly operation, the semi-completed engine frames are moved among various places on the assembly floor for the attachment or assembly of various parts to the engine frame. In such a process, the parts are moved to the engine frames as necessary and the engine frames are moved around the floor at their various stages of completion.
Although such an assembly process culminates in the assembly of an engine, it is inefficient and results in low productivity for a number of reasons. First, in such an assembly process, typically a large number of engines are being assembled at any given time. Thus, the number of parts in inventory must be maintained at a relatively high level. Such a high level of inventory stores increases the cost for assembling the engines, in that inventoried parts costs must be borne early in the assembly process, if not before assembly begins. In addition, assembling engines in such a fashion requires continuous movement of parts to the engine frame without a predetermined or set location wherein in the plant that parts are to be assembled to the frame. Transporting these parts is both time and labor consuming which results in additional costs for assembling the engines. Furthermore, with such a large number of engines being constructed at any given time, the ability to change or modify the engine design is reduced because of the great extent of work in progress.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a reduced time cycle process for the assembly of diesel engines. Preferably, such a process results in a reduction of required inventory of parts that is needed to be maintained for assembly of the engines. Most preferably, such a process is carried out so that a lesser number of engines are assembled or on the assembly line at any given time, while the cycle time for assembly is efficiently short to culminate in an increased number of engines being completed in a given time period.